76ers-Warriors Preview

By KEVIN CHROUSTPosted Feb 10 2014 2:14AM

The Golden State Warriors are going to be short-handed Monday night, but given their opponent's current stretch of futility, that might not matter much.

The Warriors will be without David Lee and possibly Andrew Bogut as they try to avoid their third loss in four games when they host the Philadelphia 76ers, losers of six straight and coming off the most lopsided defeat in the NBA this season.

Lee will miss his third straight game with a left shoulder sprain and left hip strain, and Bogut has missed the last two and is questionable with left shoulder inflammation. Coach Mark Jackson wasn't hiding behind a depleted lineup when explaining Saturday's 122-109 loss at Phoenix.

"We are a no-excuse team," Jackson said. "Obviously we're missing those guys but we still have more than enough to win ball games."

Stephen Curry had 28 points and nine assists, but the Suns shot 53.8 percent from the field and hit 11 of 21 3-pointers.

"They got hot," said Curry, averaging 30.8 points in his last four games on 54.2 percent shooting. "... We had some shots that spun in and out. It was one of those nights we thought that, besides the boards, we played well all-around. We didn't have timely stops."

With their two key big men sidelined, the Warriors (30-21) were outrebounded 45-34. They were, however, able to find offense elsewhere without Lee, their second-leading scorer (18.9 points per game). Harrison Barnes scored 23 off the bench, but Golden State is 0-4 when he reaches 20 points.

The only member of Golden State's regular starting frontcourt who hasn't been out lately is Andre Iguodala, who now plays his second game as a member of the Warriors against his former team. In the first, Iguodala had a game-high 32 points - 10 more than he's had in any other game this season - in his second trip back to Philadelphia as the Warriors won 110-90 on Nov. 4 against the previously undefeated 76ers. He'll do the hosting this time, and his former team's current form isn't likely to make him reminisce.

Philadelphia (15-37) shot a season-low 27.0 percent Sunday in a 123-78 road loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. It was the league's most lopsided game of the season and the Sixers' worst since losing by 50 to Houston in 2006-07, and they're now within a game of matching a season-high seven-game losing streak.

Brown's team has allowed an average of 115.8 points during the six-game skid, losing by an average of 19.0. Leading scorer Evan Turner has shot 33.3 percent in that span while being held to 10.7 points per game - nearly seven below his average.

Tony Wroten, averaging 18.2 points in his last five games, scored a team-high 21 off the bench Sunday while Thaddeus Young had 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Philadelphia followed one of its best 3-point shooting nights with one of its worst. After making 15 of 32 on Friday in a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, the 76ers went 3 of 28 against the Clippers.

Copyright 2014 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Speights, Warriors hand 76ers another rout, 123-80

By ANTONIO GONZALEZPosted Feb 11 2014 3:05AM

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) By the time reporters were allowed in the visiting locker room at Oracle Arena late Monday night, most of the Philadelphia 76ers already had cleared out.

The television in the center of the room was turned off. There were no box scores from the game on players' chairs - which is typical after most NBA games - and there were no smiles to be had by anybody.

After losing by a total of 88 points on consecutive nights in California, the 76ers just want to forget what happened.

Marreese Speights scored a career-high 32 points to hand his former team a near-record setback, leading the Golden State Warriors past the woeful 76ers 123-80.

Philadelphia nearly matched the NBA mark for the largest total margin of defeat in consecutive games. The Detroit Pistons lost by 95 points combined in back-to-back games in November 1966, according to STATS.

"It's hard for everybody," Sixers coach Brett Brown said. "The reality of it is they have put in so much time and despite all the turmoil, it's a group that's been together, stayed together. At times, you look up and you have to keep going and keep on playing with some level of dignity, and it's hard doing that."

After losing 123-78 at the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night in a game it trailed by 56 points in the third quarter, Philadelphia (15-38) figured it couldn't get much worse.

It almost did.

Speights finished 12-of-15 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds, and Stephen Curry added 23 points and eight assists to help the Warriors go ahead by 49 in the fourth quarter.

"It was a thing of beauty," Golden State coach Mark Jackson said.

Michael Carter-Williams scored 24 points, and Turner and Thaddeus Young had 12 points apiece for a rebuilding 76ers team that never put up much of a fight during its seventh straight loss.

No other team in NBA history has lost two straight games by at least 40 points each. Philadelphia has now done it twice.

The 76ers lost back-to-back games in April 1994 by a combined 93 points, and they're struggling to explain - and correct - what has gone so wrong during this latest stretch.

"You just look up at the scoreboard and see a lot of points. I really don't know," Turner said. "We're in the game at one point. We were down by like 10, and then the next thing you know it popped up to like 25 or 30."

Golden State outshot the Sixers 48.9 percent to 36.7 percent and outrebounded them 60-38 despite playing without center Andrew Bogut (left shoulder injury) and backup center Jermaine O'Neal (sore right wrist). David Lee, who had missed the past two games with a sprained left shoulder and strained left hip, had 13 points and 13 rebounds in 31 minutes.

Brown said before the game that he was happy his team had a chance to quickly atone for its horrendous showing in Los Angeles. Instead, the 76ers had another embarrassing performance.

As if Philadelphia's miserable two-day stretch wasn't bad enough, it was capped off by one of its former draft picks.

Speights spent his first 2 1/2 seasons in Philadelphia before getting traded to Memphis. He split last season between Memphis and Cleveland before signing with the Warriors as a free agent last summer.

The reserve big man made his first seven jumpers, including a 3-pointer and a layup through traffic that started a three-point play, to give Golden State a 47-27 lead midway through the second quarter.

"They got real hot," Carter-Williams said.

On his eighth attempt, Speights missed a 26-footer that had nearly everybody in the announced sellout crowd of 19,596 waiting to roar before it caromed off the rim. Speights left to a standing ovation before the Warriors went ahead 66-33 at halftime.

Some fans even serenaded Speights with chants of "M-V-P!" after he began another three-point play in the third quarter that stretched Golden State's lead to 92-48.

"That was so funny. I started laughing," Speights said. "At least they still have trust in me, so it's always good to have fans on your side."

The defeat could've been much worse, too.

Jackson put in most of his reserves before the fourth quarter, though the highlights didn't stop from one of them. Speights made a step-back jumper to put Golden State up 107-58 with 9:41 to play before leaving to another ovation with 3:02 left.

Brown kept most of his starters in until the final minutes to slice the deficit down a little.

"Don't anybody feel sorry for us," Brown said. "We will wake up and be (OK) tomorrow."

NOTES: The Warriors swept the season series against the 76ers for the first time since the 2007-08 season. ... Sixers reserve Hollis Thompson missed the game with a sprained right ankle. ... The league announced Monday that Curry received the NBA's Kia Community Assist Award for January for his generosity and ongoing charitable efforts in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Copyright 2014 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Notebook: Warriors 123, 76ers 80

THE FACT: The 76ers became just the second NBA team to drop back-to-back games by 40 or more points, following in the footsteps of another Sixers team from 20 years earlier. Philadelphia lost 130-82 to the New York Knicks on April 21, 1994, then fell 133-88 to the Indiana Pacers the following night.

THE LEAD:Marreese Speights had the night of his NBA life, scoring a career-high 32 points as the Golden State Warriors demolished the Philadelphia 76ers 123-80 on Monday night at ORACLE Arena.

Speights, a backup center who struggled through a rocky start to his first season with the Warriors, hit 12 of his first 13 shots. The sixth-year journeyman, who was originally drafted by the 76ers in 2008, added eight rebounds with three blocks.

Stephen Curry had 23 points and eight assists as the Warriors (31-21) opened a 33-point advantage at the half. Golden State led by as many as 49 points early in the fourth quarter.

David Lee, back in the starting lineup after missing three of the Warriors' last four games due to injury, had 13 points and 13 rebounds. Draymond Green added 11 points and 11 boards for his first career regular-season double-double.

The 76ers (15-38), coming back less than 24 hours after suffering a 123-78 loss against the Los Angeles Clippers, shot just 36.7 percent and missed their first 12 attempts from 3-point distance in suffering their seventh straight loss. Michael Carter-Williams led Philadelphia with 24 points.

QUOTABLE: "That was so funny, I started laughing. At least they still have trust in me. That's always good, to have fans on your side."-- Marreese Speights on eliciting chants of "M-V-P!" from the ORACLE Arena crowd

THE STAT: The 43-point margin of victory was the Warriors' largest since they beat the Orlando Magic 135-92 on Nov. 16, 2002.

TURNING POINT: After Thaddeus Young sent down a breakaway dunk with five minutes left in the second quarter, the Warriors scored 19 consecutive points to finish the half, turning a 47-33 lead into a 66-33 doubling up of Philadelphia.

QUOTABLE II: "It was like being at a great rock concert. ... He did an unbelievable job. We love Mo, and Mo works his butt off. I was glad he got an opportunity tonight. He's a guy that's worked hard all season long. Happy that he get a chance to go out there and do what he can do."-- David Lee on Speights' big night

HOT: Speights' season-high prior to Monday was 16 points. He needed less than 10 minutes to erase that mark as part of a 22-point first half. His previous career high of 28 points -- set with Philadelphia against the Clippers on Dec. 19, 2009 -- fell 89 seconds into the fourth quarter with an 8-foot jumper.

QUOTABLE III: "I didn't want to keep thinking, 'Oh, I've got to get 28.' I just went out there and the ball kept coming to me, so I kept getting the opportunity to score." -- Marreese Speights

NOT: Before the game, Philadelphia coach Brett Brown told reporters he was "thrilled" to get back on the court less than 24 hours after the 76ers had their doors blown off by the Clippers. He might have been rethinking that optimism after watching his club break down completely in the second quarter, getting outscored 37-12. Philadelphia shot just 6-for-26, 0-for-7 behind the arc.

NOTABLE: According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 76ers' combined 88 points in arrears represents the third-largest total margin of defeat in consecutive games in NBA history. The 1965-66 Detroit Pistons hold the record at 95 points. ... The Warriors were without centers Andrew Bogut, who missed his third straight game with a left shoulder problem, and Jermaine O'Neal, who sat out due to inflammation in his right wrist, which required arthroscopic surgery in December. ... Warriors guard Andre Iguodala had 11 points, seven rebounds and six assists against his original NBA franchise. ... Young and Evan Turner each added 12 points for the 76ers.